Vulgus (set 1)

Vulgus (c) 05/1984 Capcom.

Vulgus is pretty simple. You just pilot a spaceship and blast countless enemies. That is what is fun about this game. There is nothing complicated, just pure blasting. You only have two weapons, your blaster, and a limited supply of bombs. This title uses the time honored top-down vertically scrolling format. The background moves eternally forward, but you can move all around the screen, and can make the screen scroll both left and right. Your enemies consist of an assortment of fairly realistic looking spacecraft, some of which have a distinctive 'insectoid' look to them. This game is endless and it doesn't seem to have a level format. You just move forward and shoot. The backgrounds will change from time to time from planetary surfaces to space scenes and eventually they will start repeating once you blast this particularly large alien formation.

- TECHNICAL -

Main CPU : Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)

Sound CPU : Z80 (@ 3 Mhz)

Sound Chips : (2x) AY8910 (@ 1.5 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Vertical

Video resolution : 224 x 256 pixels

Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz

Palette Colors : 256

Players : 2

Control : 8-way joystick

Buttons : 2

- TRIVIA -

Vulgus is the first game produced by Capcom. Capcom, a name derived from 'Capsule' and 'Computer'. Kenzo Tsujimoto established the company in Japan as a manufacturer and distributor of electronic games machines.

In space shuttle terminology, CAPCOM also stands for 'Capsule Communications'.They are responsible for most of the talking to the shuttle during the missions. They relay all the messages to and from the shuttle. It's a very important, very stressful position in the space flight system.

Vulgus was only available as a conversion kit from SNK (or Capcom in Japan). The marquee to this title was red and it had a strange blue 'Vulgus' logo that had red veins running through it.

- UPDATES -

The US version's high score table allowed three initials to be entered. The Japanese version allowed ten letters to be entered.